Quinton
From the masculine French given name derived from the French place name Quintin meaning "estate belonging to Quintus".
Name Census estimates that about 28,646 living Americans carry the first name Quinton. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Quinton today is around 30 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Quinton births was 1996 (871 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Quinton. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Quinton with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
29K
~ 1 in 11,965 Americans
Peak year
1996
871 babies that year
Average age
30
years old
2024 SSA rank
#835
Tracked since 1903
Census
Quinton in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 22,791 people with the first name Quinton, which placed it at #1,474 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#1,474
National first-name rank
People counted
23K
22,791 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
7.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
43.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Quinton
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Quinton is White at 43.4%. The next largest groups are Black (42.0%) and Two or More Races (7.3%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Quinton described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Quinton at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White43.4% · 9,894
- Black or African American42.0% · 9,569
- Two or more races7.3% · 1,673
- Hispanic or Latino4.8% · 1,089
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.3% · 288
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.2% · 278
Gender
Gender distribution for Quinton
Out of the 31,427 babies given the name Quinton since 1880, 99.9% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Quinton as a male name
- Ranked #835 in 2024
- 296 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1996 (871 births)
Quinton as a female name
- Ranked #10,072 in 1988
- 7 female births in 1988
- Peak: 1983 (9 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Quinton appears almost entirely male. Of the 22,799 people counted with this name, 99.6% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Quinton: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Quinton from the 1900s through to the 2020s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 7,814 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Quinton by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Quinton during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Quintons live
The SSA's state-level files cover 47 states and territories. Texas, Georgia, Florida recorded the most babies named Quinton, while Delaware, New Hampshire, South Dakota recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 584 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Quinton
The name Quinton is derived from the French surname Quentin, which originated from the Roman name Quintinus. Quintinus is a Latin name derived from the word "quintus," meaning "fifth." This suggests that the name was initially given to a fifth-born son in ancient Roman times.
The name Quentin gained popularity during the Middle Ages, particularly in France and England. It is believed that the French form of the name, Quinton, emerged as a variant spelling during this period. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Quinton dates back to the 13th century in England.
In medieval literature, the name Quinton is associated with a legendary figure known as St. Quinton or St. Quentin. According to Christian tradition, St. Quinton was a Roman Christian martyr who was executed during the persecution of Christians under Emperor Diocletian in the early 4th century. His name and story were widely celebrated in Europe, contributing to the name's popularity.
Throughout history, notable individuals have borne the name Quinton. One of the earliest recorded figures was Quinton de Bruges (c. 1355-1425), a Flemish composer and music theorist who lived during the Renaissance. In the 16th century, Quinton Matsys (1466-1530) was a renowned Flemish painter and sculptor known for his remarkable transition from blacksmith to artist.
In more recent times, Quinton Hogg (1907-2001) was a British politician and educator who served as a Member of Parliament and founded several prestigious schools in England. Quinton Dewhurst (1926-2018) was an English actor best known for his roles in films such as "The Lion in Winter" and "The Madwoman of Chaillot."
Another notable figure was Quinton Nolan (1932-2005), an American baseball player who played for the Milwaukee Braves and the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 1950s and 1960s. In the literary world, Quinton Duval (1954-2016) was an American writer and poet who published several collections of poetry and received numerous accolades for his work.
These are just a few examples of individuals throughout history who have borne the name Quinton, demonstrating its enduring presence across various cultures and disciplines.
People
Quinton + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Quinton as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with Q
Other first names starting with Q with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Quinton: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Quinton?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 28,646 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Quinton going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 11,965 US residents.
Is Quinton a common name?
We classify Quinton as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 31,427 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Quinton most popular?
The single biggest year for Quinton was 1996, when 871 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Quinton is about 30 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Quinton in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 22,791 people with the name Quinton, or 7.55 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,474 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Quinton in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Quinton?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Quinton appears almost entirely male. Of the 22,799 people counted with this name, 99.6% were male and only a very small share were female. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Quinton?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Quinton is White at 43.4%. The next largest groups are Black (42.0%) and Two or More Races (7.3%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Quinton most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Quinton in the 2020 Census, accounting for 43.4% (9,894 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Quinton in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Quinton a male name?
Yes, 99.9% of people registered as Quinton in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Quinton still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Quinton in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Quinton can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people have Quinton as a first name?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.